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Egypt Seeks to Expand Vaccination Rollout

Egypt Seeks to Expand Vaccination Rollout
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Egypt Seeks to Expand Vaccination Rollout

Egypt Seeks to Expand Vaccination Rollout

The Egyptian government will implement several measures to accelerate COVID-19 inoculations after it received more than 854,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week.

Only 148,987 citizens, including medical staff, healthcare workers and vulnerable groups, have been vaccinated so far, said Health Minister Hala Zayed during a meeting with ministry officials on the inoculation process.

Health Ministry Spokesman Khalid Mujahid said Zayed ordered doubling the number of medical teams at vaccination centers nationwide, as well as the working hours.

She also stressed that the number of citizens visiting each center should not exceed 100 per day, he added.

Workers in the tourism sector will be soon vaccinated, the minister affirmed, especially in coastal governorates as the summer approaches.

Egypt on Wednesday received 854,400 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine as part of the global COVAX agreement.

COVAX was established by the Geneva-based GAVI vaccine alliance and the World Health Organization (WHO) for the equitable distribution of vaccines.

The shipment is part of 40 million doses that Egypt is set to receive through GAVI in 2021.

Egypt had received its first 50,000 dose shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this year and 680,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine. It will soon receive 900,000 more doses of Sinopharm.

Mujahid said authorities have opened 40 more centers, taking the total to 139 throughout the country.

In televised comments on Friday, he said authorities are aiming to increase the number of vaccination centers to 200, with 40 in Cairo alone.

Egypt has reported some 250,000 COVID-19 infections, 156,000 recoveries and 12,163 deaths.

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Lebanon: Aoun Says Govt Formation Must Not Be Delayed by Sectarian Demands

This handout picture provided by the press office of the Lebanese presidency shows Lebanon's new President Joseph Aoun (L) meeting with prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut on January 17, 2025. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)
This handout picture provided by the press office of the Lebanese presidency shows Lebanon's new President Joseph Aoun (L) meeting with prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut on January 17, 2025. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)
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Lebanon: Aoun Says Govt Formation Must Not Be Delayed by Sectarian Demands

This handout picture provided by the press office of the Lebanese presidency shows Lebanon's new President Joseph Aoun (L) meeting with prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut on January 17, 2025. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)
This handout picture provided by the press office of the Lebanese presidency shows Lebanon's new President Joseph Aoun (L) meeting with prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut on January 17, 2025. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / AFP)

Lebanon’s newly elected President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that the formation of the government must not be delayed because of sectarian and political complexities, urging the parliamentary blocs to ease the formation process.
“We have just begun restoring the trust between the people and the state. We wish to form a new government that meets the aspirations of the people as quickly as possible”, said Aoun on Wednesday.
He added that extending bridges of trust with the Arab and Western worlds is attainable only if sincere intentions for the good of public interest are there.
Aoun emphasized that the swift formation of a new government gives a positive signal to the whole world, while obstructions and delaying the process because of narrow political and sectarian demands does the opposite.
Lawmakers from the Change Bloc, who had a major role in unifying the ranks of the opposition and garner support for naming Judge Nawaf Salam for the premiership, reject demands for sectarian and partisan quotas to ease the formation process.
They say that the mechanism to form a government should strictly adhere to competency.
Recent reports emerged lately that lawmakers of the Change Bloc want to have two or three ministerial seats in the new lineup, but the MPs themselves denied that.
“We don’t want a ministerial share, plus we reject the notion of quotas. We only take the share we want when we rebuild a country that we aspire for, and when competent and ethical ministers are appointed”, MP Paula Yacoubian of the Change Bloc told Asharq al-Awsat.
MP Firas Hamdan, also of the Change Bloc, reiterated what Yacoubian said. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Change lawmakers do not want ministerial portfolios or any share in the coming government.
He said the bloc refuses the formation of a government based on sectarian and political quotas, akin to old formation practices. “These have proven to be failed practices”, he said.
In order to swiftly form a government and garner confidence for Salam’s government, Hamdan said that the political blocs must bear responsibility in front of the people and the international community and ease the formation.
Director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, Dr. Sami Nader, said in remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat that lawmakers of the Change Bloc had a major role in bringing Salam to his post.
“But the question is: will the new regime be one that will bring change, or will it replicate the former rule? If the next scenario is the case, then we can treat the Change Bloc as we treat any other party or political group that gets appeased with ministerial representation. This would be regretful because it would only mean that we went back to the system of quotas”, he stated.